::shrug:: while taxes may fund social programs, they are not a social program in and of themselves. Some parts of the current tax policy, such as the EIC and tax credits for oil exploration, may amount to subsidies, but taxes are not a subsidy.
Or, if you insist on using the word in this sense, we can say that your proposed solution would subsidize a lower tax rate for yourself. You may think you are being really objective, but what I hear is someone who is really angry and focused on his tax bill. As for credentials -- ha. I don't have a four-year degree but I am one of those people who has been going to school forever. I've taken freshman and intermediate macroeconomics and honors microeconomics. Also finance, more recently. In addition, some of my honors classes involved readings from Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Adam Smith and John Ruskin. I've taken other classes at specifically on the Industrial Revolution, the British Raj, and 20th century US foreign policy, which is where I learned about United Fruit, now there's a subsidy for ya :) Talk about an analogy for our times. I don't subscribe to any print publications but I read Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal on a regular basis as well as anyone else who happens to have an interesting story in the Business section of Google News, and I have several alerts set on Marketwatch. I also follow Fed policy fairly closely. So go patronize someone else. I'll admit to not reading the book but I am not the sort of fluff-head that you seem to want to argue with ;) As I mentioned, my time is really maxed out and I at least am asking questions about it... or was until you got so angry and defensive. Don't worry about it any more; I have seen enough. And now that I am off this morning I still need to move a houseful of furniture and do a final edit on someone;s article. Dana On Feb 9, 2008 6:54 AM, Cameron Childress <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Taxes provide a few things for the country. Among them are providing > for things like a common defense and infrastructure, which benefit > everyone (in theory) equally. Taxes also provide help to those who are > less fortunate. These are generally called social programs, and those > social programs are pretty much all subsidies of one form or another. > Also, by taxing one group more than another, that is also one group > subsidizing the tax payments of others. It's a double subsidy really, > since those people are more likely to benefit from the social programs > as well. > > I'm guessing your are denying that taxes are a form of subsidy because > that's so often used as a "dirty word" to label something that's > negative. Even after the very definition of the word included "taxes" > in it. I'm actually just using it in a very factual way - you can draw > positive of negative connotations from it any way you'd like. > > As far as knowing anything about economics - if you'd like to pull out > credentials we can. I may have brought this up in a past thread but I > have a 4 year college degree in Finance with a minor in Economics. I've > read the entire Fairtax book cover to cover, I read the Economist > Magazine regularly and up until recently was a subscriber to it. I also > read the Wall Street Journal on occasion, though not as regularly as I > use to. I tend to ignore political and talk show rhetoric because it's > usually what someone wants to hear, not what is necessarily valid. I > have a pretty firm grasp on academic perspectives on how policy will > effect the national and global economy, and those are the primary > information sources for economic information. Your turn. > > -Cameron > > Dana wrote: > > I am not sure why Adam thinks you are arguing intelligently. To me it > > seems as though I am having a discussion about economics with someone > > who knows nothing about the subject and does not want to learn. I do > > not think that a progressive tax rate is generally considered a > > subsidy. But supposing it was: > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:253822 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
